Photographic-copying apparatus.



O. T. GREGORY &. N. W. GARKHUFF. PHOTOGRAPHIG COPYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, 1913.

1,127,231, Patented Feb.2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1..

Zi g.

0. T. GREGORY & N. W. GARKHUFF. PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7. 1913.

1,127,231. Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 uucuf'oui I Oscarf GIZ-LJOJ L17 mu-WW9 M M 6 '01 na 0. T. GREGORY &. N. W. GAEKHUPP. PHOTOGRAPHIG COPYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7,1913.

1, 1 27,231. Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

wi tmeooeo UN ED" STATES PATENT OFFICE} OSCAR T. GREGORY, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. AND NORMAN W. GARKHUFF, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO COMMERCIAL CAMERA COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION"OF RHODE ISLAND.

PHOTOGRAPHIC-COPYING- APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

Original application filed April 15, 1910, Serial No. 555,709. Divided and this application filed June 7, 1918.

Serial No. 7 72,238.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, OsoAh E. GREGORY and NORMAN W. CARKHUFF, of San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State of Texas, and of Chica o, in the county of Cook and State of llinois, respectlvely, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic-Copying Apparatus, and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference belng had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the referencenumerals marked thereon.- The present invention relates to photography' and more particularly to machines for making photographic copies of documents and other relatively small ob3ects of different sizes capable of being handled and arranged, and it has for its object to provide a simple and efficient machine of this character adapted more particularly for general commercial use and one that may be successfully operated by persons not particularly skilled in the photographlc art.

' A further object is to provide means for the reception of the article to be photographed and devices through the adjustment of which the said article or ob ect is automatically brought into focus with respect to the camera lens and at the same 7 time positioned at such a distance therefrom as to cause its image to appear in the photograph as of .a maximum size, permitted by an area of the sensitized surface exposed.

1 To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end i of the specification. I

tively, the section being taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the object holder and adjacent portions of the support; Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken centrally through the ob ect holder substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the chart used in some instances for gaging the size of the objects to be photographed.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several figures indicate the same parts.

Referring first to the general features of construction and operation the device com= prises a suitable standard or support 1, preferably in the nature of a table, having legs 2 and guided vertically thereon at one side is an object holder 3. Movable hori= zontally on top of the support is a camera having a lens tube 4 fitted-with an angu:

larly arranged mirror 5 that directs the rays vertically as they pass between the object holder and thelens. The lens itself is not shown, a tube of'this character being well known in the art. Means are provided for focusing the camera on the object holdernegative is automatically fed and severed.

from a continuous roll of sensitized material and it is preferably caught in a developing pan or container from which it is subsequently transferred to a second and preferably rearwardly arranged pan or con tainer filled with the fixing agent, the portions of both pans, which would otherwise be exposed. being protected by a light exeluding hood 7 that hangs in rear of the camera. The operator can reach beneath this hood to manipulate the negatives by hand and withdraws the finished photogra h from beneath the same.

The apparatus herein illustrated was particularly designed for commercial photography, being of great utility in obtaining photographic copies of written documents, records, etc.,which can be rapidly done at smallexpense in less'time than it would take to copy this work in any other way and with absolute accuracy.

Havinggiven a general idea of the main I 2 and 3, the side rails of the supporting table 1 are provided on their inner sides with guiding grooves-8 in which slide the ribs 9 of a bed frame 10 which carries the camera proper and by means of which the latter is moved bodily on the support. A shaft 11, journaled in the latter and having an exteriorly arranged knob or handle 12, has fixed thereon pinions 13 that mesh with racks 14 on the frame 10 and provide means for effecting the movement thereof.

The camera front 15 is preferably rigidly wcured at the forward end of this frame 10, but the body portion 6 with which the front is connected by the usual bellows 16,

is adjustable on the bed frame, the camerain the present instance being-of a rear focus type. To this end the bed frame is provided on the inner faces of its side rails with guiding grooves 17 to receive cooperating ribs 18 on the camera body 6 and also with racks 19 meshing with pinions 20 fixed to a shaft 21 journaled in the body and havingan exteriorly arranged operating knob I 22 :by the rotation of which the body is moved up and down the frame relatively to the front and, as the sensitized material is carried with the body, the focusing is thus effected. The jam nut 23 threaded on the end of the shaft 21 may be tightened against a flange 24 on the body that is interposed between said nut and one of the pinions 20 to lock the body in place on the frame, when desired.

The sensitized material used in the ma chine is preferably a continuous strip or web of paper wound in a roll 30 in a chamber 28 within a back 25. The front wall of this back, com-posed in the present instance of a door '34, through which access is had to the chamber 28, and -a portion 40, closes at the rear the exposure chamber 27 within the body 6 .and forms a backing against which that portion of the strip of sensitized material that is stretched in the focal place is held in a fiat position for exposure. This strip is suitably led from the roll .down across the wall 3-1-40 to a point at the lower part of the exposure chamber 27 where it is passed between feedrdlls 4243, bnt the further treatment and final disposition of the material is not important to the present invention and hence reference is made to our other application above identified for a disclosure of such subject matter. Suffice t to say that a greater or less amount may be fed into or out of the field of exposure as the operator desires and that which is in position for exposure may be marked off at any timeby-a shutter device 73 which is entered through an opening 74 in a side wall of the casing of the back 25.

In some instances a photograph of a desired size will have an area amounting to only a fraction of the expanse 4:1 ofthe sensitized strip which, as heretofore described is brought into position for exposure in the focal-plane against the wall i 34 40. Unless otherwise provided for, such a photograph would be recorded upon the center of the sheet and the margin surrounding it would be wasted. To provide against such waste we employ a second shutter member 76 which is entered through an opening 7 7 in the side of the back 25 corresponding to the opening 74 for the shutter 73. This second shutter .is preferably arranged parallel with and in rear oft-he first and is of such size as to obscure-or mask off a portion of that part 41 of the strip which would otherwise be in a position for exposure. masked amounts, in the present instance, to half of the sheet 41 and that the upper half. The lower half, of course, could be masked instead but it would necessarily be done The part that is so after the exposure thereof, and such negative would have to be delayed and could not be issued fromthe camera until the other half had been exposed.

To enable the lens to be centered on this lower unexposed half, the mount 79 of the In its upper position the lens is, of course,

centered upon the entire expanse of the sensitized material.

l/Ve will now describethe holder or support for the object to bephotographed and the manner in which it cooperates with the camera proper to bring about the results previously indicated-as being the broader functions of the apparatus. At the front of the supporting table 1 we arrange a pair of vertical guide rods 82 (Figs. 1 and 4) upon which can be raised or lowered a sliding ele-' vator or carriage 83. This carriage has a projecting lug 8%(shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5) having threaded therein a centrally arranged vertical screw 85 journaled at its lower end in a bracket 86 and its upper end ina bracket -87above whiehbracket it is mamas provided with a beveled gear 88 meshing with a gear 89 fixed to a shaft 90 extending horizontally from front to rear of the machine and journaled in a supporting frame 1 (Fig. 2) and in a bracket 91. A second gear 92 on this shaft (Fig. 4) meshes with a gear 93 on a shaft 94 extending transversely of the support and projecting at one side thereof, as at 95, whereat is attached an operating crank 96. This crank 90 is arranged for convenience in the neighborhood of the operating knobs 12 and 22 that control the movements of the camera and is preferably removable so as not to be in the way of the operator when not in use.

The specific construction of the object holder we prefer to utilize is best illustrated in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. The carriage 83 supports a frame 97 having oppositely exposed inwardly extending shoulders 98 on which are slidingly. supported within the frame two panels 99, leaf springs 100 being interposed between them and the ledges so that they are normally held against upper overhanging shoulders 101. In this position their upper surfaces define the plane with reference to which the camera is focused. A clamping frame 102 is pivoted to the carriage frame 97 at 103 and is secured in a position in which it coiiperates therewith by a suitable latch 104, such position being defined by a stop 105. This frame carries a pair of bars 106 slidable in guides 10? thereon and normally held in position by the tension of leaf springs 108 bearing on the tops of the rails forming the frame. The bars normally meet the surfaces of the panels 99 when the holder is empty and the object is held within the holder by being clamped between the bars and the panels, the springs 100 being adapted to yield sufliciently to accommodate objects of different thicknesses, the upper surfaces of which, however, will always be held in the plane of focus mentioned.

If the article or object be a substantially plane sheet, such as indicated by 109 in Figs. 4 and 5, the panels 99 are moved to abutting position centrally of the holderto present a substantially broken supporting surface, but in the event that copies are to be made of the pages of a book, for instance, the pan els are separated so that the back of the book, while in open condition, can be accommodated between their adjacent edges, as will be understood. If the book be opened otherwise than at its center, the springs 100,

independently supporting the panels, will be differently compressed and even though the pile of pages on each be of unequal thicknesses, the top pages will be presented in the same plane.

With the mechanism described, the carriage 83 may be raised and lowered at will traveling with these movementstoward anrl from the lens tube 4, and while this movement is in fact transversely of the optical axis of the lens it is in line with the axis of projection thereof because of the provision of the mirror 5 which gives the same result as though it were directly in front of the lens and in line with the optical axis. Assuming, therefore, that the dimensions of the portion 41 of the sensitized strip, that is exposed in the focal plane of the camera, be 7 by 14 inches square, there will be a point in the travel of the object holder on its guides toward and from the lens at which an object arranged thereon and having approximately the same dimension of 7 by 14- inches will have its image projected in the focal plane of the camera in actual size. There will also be points at which objects of smaller dimensions will appear enlarged to a maximum size recordable on the exposed sheet and objects of greater dimensions will appear reduced to a size that can be accommodated. In each case, however, the focusing adjustments of the camera will be different, that is, the back and body will have a different position with reference to their distance from the lens. In other words, in

order to bring an object of a given size into proper focus at the same time at the proper distance from the lens to record an image of maximum proportion on the exposed sheet of sensitized material a differential movement of the object holder and camera back, respectively, relatively to the lens is required. Of the three elements involved, viz., the sensitized material, the lens and the object, two must be differentially mov able relatively to the third. It may be here stated that we elect to employ a back focus ing camera because, with the arrangements of the present apparatus, were the focusing efiected by a movement of the lens, it would involve centering it each time in its overhanging position above the object holder. We, therefore, provide means whereby with the dimensions of the object predetermined the parts may be quickly and properly adjusted without trial by ground glass focusing or otherwise and the above results ob-' tained. To this end we use a chart, gage or scale, a convenient form of which is illustrated in Fig. 6, marked with a series of concentric areas having their dimensions expressed by the lines 110 and 111. The object can be measured to ascertain the largest area of the chart within which it can be accommodated by placing the chart beneath. it or otherwise and the several areas are indicated by a series of, in the present instance, arbitrary characters 112. On the object holder or its carriage 83 is mounted an indicator finger 113 that traverses a scale 114 stationarily arranged preferably on a leg-2 of'the support to form an index for -'a has dist" the he ser" "oi? characters 115 ion the scale are index forthe focusing-adjustments of the sadism body relatively tetherlens carry: ing' front and the characters 1118 thereon cor respond With %e characters 115 on the ob- .fi'ect holderscalelid. Both of 'the.scales are ofa urely empuucal nature and their suhdivi ons ,vary with the focal length of thelens, but these are so arranged that when the read ngs of the indexes are-the same; the dbjectholder, or lit-least the artieleiiel'd therebygtvill bs in iproperfoousfi -ls'o, thearea on the chart; the designating character 1126f wfhrch corresponds to these readings, will indicate the maxiinlnh area thatcan be recorded on the sensitized, sheet 41 in the focal plane of the camera. Thus, supposing the operator finds that the outline of his object falls. within that 'one ofthe areas 112 nninbered 5 in 6 of the dravvings overlaps the area 41 hichis the next smaller one, l1e pos 1 time his object holder so ztlrat .rits TIIdBX reads .5, as shown in Fig. :1, and inanipulatesthe focusing device's of the camera so that the index scale 117 also reads at 5; He thenyknows that the article being photographed is in focus and it is near enough to the camera for 1tsnnagetooceupy the whole of the "sheet of sensit zed material, yet it has takenbut a fraehon of time to make the necessary adjustments and has not necessitated focusing and refocusing with a ground glass with the object arranged lat various trial distances, all-this having been done .,for him by the builder of the. machine. The characters 112', 115 and 118, it will be seen; may be purely arbitrary and not necessarily have the sequential valueshov'vn, the only consideration being thatthe corresponding units or each in dex be readily ascertainable. F orconvenience the chart shown in Fig. 6 might be secured to one 'or both of the panels 99 -'of the bbject holder, but weifind it practicable to place marks 119 and 120 on the bars 116 and the side rails of the clamping frame '102 corresponding to the lines on the chart indicated by 110 and 111 so. that the same areas may be ascertained without the use of the chart while the object is in the holder, and these marks bear characters 121 indentical with the characters 112.

When the shutter 76 used to. mask a portion of th'esensitized material ih thefocal plane of the eamera'and the lensmount 7.9 is ilow'el'd toooriespoad, as previouslyit' will, a'ofgeoin-ae, new of the;

set of characters its relation reading as tea-seals ili so as he the 1'15 thereon are concerned. For this reasen a second 'setfof characters 122 is arranged on the scale'which constitute in efi'ect a lowering ot the scale of characters 115 to cozrespondwith-the changed position of the lens. When the object holder is oqceratedunder the guidance of this second to the tens is restored and when these smaller photographs are losing made the indicated relationship between the area's, designated b'y the characters 112 on the chart, and the area of the sensitized material exposed is untrue and it is there'- fore necessary. to Tl'rovide the chart with a 'secondfs'et bf gsabdiyi'sions or areas defined by lilies 12321116 124 thereon which are pl'eferabiy 'made in a distinguishing color. areas, however; bear thesame relation to the fraction of the sensitized sheet expused andthe characters 125, by which they are indicated,- bear the same relation to the character-e118 and 122 of the camera and object holder scale as before, the ratios of the respehtive dimensions being preserved. Marks 126 corresp'onding to the lines 123 and indicated by characters 127 are preferably similarly reproduced upon the cross,

bars .106'fof the object holder, but the lines 124-, being in the pre ent instance identical with the lines 111 can be designated corr'ectly i517 the characters 121 that also represent corresponding dimensions of the larger areas. All indicator 128 on the support 1 properly indicated. Also,

registers with a distinguishing 'mark 129 on the camera and, more 's' ecifically on the bed iflalne 10 thereof wire the minor 501 the lens is properly centeled o er the object holder 3 so that this adjustment inay be easily regained in case it is desired for any parposetq move the lens to another point aii ove the object holder or an article arranged thereon.

We claim as our invention: I I

l; 'fIn-e combination with a camera, coinprisihg a lens and a support for the sensig tiz'ed materiahone of said elements being movable relatively to the other to change the focus, of an object hol'de'r movable toward and iromthe lens, decals for recording the positions of the focusing element, a second scale for recording the nositions of the object holder and similar sets of index characters on this tijvo scales so arranged that when the parts give correspondihg readings the cainera will he broperly focused with respect to the object holder and the object holder will be the broper distance from the lens. for the latter to Droiect the port and having a predetermined area of focal plane of the camera as of the maximum size permitted by the area of the sensitized material exposed.

2. The combination with a lens, a support for the sensitized material and an object holder, two of said elements being movable along the axis of the lens to permit changes in the relative positions of all, of a scale for recording the positions of one of said movable elements, and means for defining the required position of the other at a given reading of the scale to bring an object on the holder, having a predetermined area of outline measured in the characters of the scale, and agreeing with the reading thereof, within the focus of the lens so that its image will be projected in the focal plane of the camera as of a maximum size permitted by the area of the sensitized material exposed.

3. The combination with a camera comprising a lens and means for exposing a sheet of sensitized material in the focal plane thereof, of an object holder movable toward and from the lens, a series of characters thereon dividing it into areas of different magnitudes, a scale having a definite position relatively to the camera for indicating the positions of the object holder,-

the focal plane of the camera as of a maximum size permitted by the area of the sensitized material exposed.

4. The combination with a vertically guided object holder, of a camera lens arranged with its optical axis in a horizontal line and provided With a mirror for reflecting the image of an object in the holder therethrough, a support for a sheet of sensitized material in the focal plane of the lens, a shutter device for masking off a portion of the area of the sensitized material, a support for the lens permitting its vertical adjustment above the holder to center it with respect to the remaining portion of the sensitized material and a scale for indicating the positions of the holder with respect to the lens, said scale being provided with a double series of characters, one for use when the lens is centered with respect to the entire area of the sensitized material, and the other to indicate the same relative positions of the holder and lens when the latter is centered on the unmasked portion of said area.

OSCAR T. GREGORY. NORMAN W. CARKHUFF.

Witnesses to the signature of Oscar T. Gregory:

ALEX. P. VILLARET, EDWARD J. Tousn.

Witnesses to the signature of Norman W. Carkhufi':

J OHN P. JosErH, M. E. SWEANY. 

